In celebration of our 40th year, I decided to go out in the field with our technicians for 40 Fridays.I call it my “40 Fabulous Fridays in the Field having Fun with Fafco Solar’s Friends and Family” celebration.

Here’s my report for Friday #1:

For my first Friday, I joined Jeremy and Travis to replace a 13 year old solar pool heater.

By the time I got to the job site, they had already sized up the situation and were quickly removing the old system. As I watched, they were happy to answer questions and give me a little on-the-job re-training… along with a few friendly jabs like being the “new guy” on the job.

I saw them use new techniques that were far different than what I did in the 70’s and 80’s. Not only was I impressed with the speed with which they performed their work… I was also impressed with how well they worked together. When each guy knows what they’re doing, and what the other is doing, the work goes smoothly… everything flows. Its fun to watch.

The job was done in about 4 hours… something that would have taken me all day 30 years ago!

“Travis flashes a smile while finishing the roof plumbing.”

After lunch, Jeremy went off to do a couple service calls on his own and Travis and I joined up with Bryan to reinstall another solar pool heater on a new metal roof.

As it turned out, I knew the owner of the house: Tom Demogenes, a ReMax Realtor. My son and I played volleyball with him in North Ft Myers years ago. A great guy. Over the course of 14 years, Tom and his wife built up a nice real estate business… managing to survive the downturn. If you’re looking to buy or sell a waterfront house in the Cape, check out their website and Angie’s list.

The second job went as well as the first, and we were done in several hours. Before heading back to the shop, we celebrated the end of my first day with some fresh, organic strawberries from my backyard garden.

In summary, it was fun to be on the roofs, again… and it was great to see first hand how well and how hard the guys work everyday.